Lilley fails to find buyer and confirms 190 job losses

Lilley Construction's seven-day stay of execution has ended without a buyer being found for the Scottish group that went into administration on 14 January.

Joint administrator Bruce Cartwright, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, has announced today (Friday) that Lilley has ceased trading and the entire staff are being made redundant.

There had been some interest from 15 potential buyers, but nothing had developed rapidly enough to offer the prospect of a likely sale.

"Despite our best endeavours, a sale has not been possible," said Cartwright, and regrettably we have to announce the closure of the business with immediate effect.

"We are particularly sensitive to the fact that the closure will result in 190 redundancies. A core team will be retained to ensure the orderly wind-down of the business and to assist in the handover of live contracts to new contractors."

Lilley had 11 live contracts. The hopes of laying unsecured creditors are higher than normal as Lilley had no bank debt. The only preferred claims will be those from employees.